Self-trailing truck.



A. W. BENSON.

SELF TRAILING TRUCK.

APPLICATION HLED JUNE 4. '1915.

qw.. Patented Oct. 24,1916

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented wet. 24,- 11546.,

Application led June 4, 1915. I Serial No. 32,070.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that ll, AnoLPH W. BENSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain" new and useful improvements inSelf-Trailing rllrucks; and ll do hereby declare the f ollowing to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will-enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to self-tracking trucks adapted to be connected ina train with all of the trucks arranged to travel the This. invention isin the nature ofan improvement on the so-called lumber cart disclosedand claimed inthe Marshall Patent, No. 660,020, of @ctober 16th, 1900.ln the said Marshall cart, a slack chain is extended across the rear endof the cart frame and this is used as, an element for causing the cartsto travel the same, or substantially the prevent the one cart fromrunning ahead'in going down hill and will cause the connected carts ortrucks. to properly trail or track, when going down hill, aswell as whengoing up hill, or when runningon a level.

lnthe accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts. y

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is ya side elevation showing twotrucks connected in accordance with my invention, some parts beingbroken away; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. l, butwith the bodies or boxes of the trucks removed from the frames thereof;and Fig. 3 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section on theline .fc3-m3 onFig. 2.

'lhe trucks may, of course, take various forms. 'As shown, each truckcomprises a channel iron framework 1, rear axle 2, rear wheels .3,centrally located front wheel 4, front axle 5, and front wheel vbracket6.. rlFhe said front wheel,l bracket 6 is shown as bifurcated. rFhat is,it is provided with depending side portions between which thev frontwheel 4-is located; and the axle 5 has squared ends set into downwardlyopening notches v7 formed at the lower ends of the said depending`portions of the said front wheel bracket 6. The upper portion of thewheel bracket 6 is formed with a flanged annular bearing, (seeparticularly Fig. 3), that fits a correspondingly formed .annularbearing surface of a ring 8, (see particularly Fig. 3), that isrigidly'secured to the bowed or yoke-like front portion of the framed.Also, as shown, the said ring 3 has a central hub 9 and the wheelbracket 6 has a pintle 10 channeled in the said hub. The front wheelbracket is thus mounted for horizontal oscillatory movements, on astructure that corresponds closely towhat, in wagon construction, isdesignated as a fifth wheel.

The wheel bracket 6 is provided with a short forwardly projectingdraw-bar 11, the

front end of lwhich is slightly bifurcated to form a coupling-head andthe said couplinghead is provided with a slight perforation throughwhich a coupling pin12 is adapted to be passed. As a connection betweenthe rear end of the one cart and the coupling` head of the draw bar of arear truck, lf provide a so-called coupling bar 13. l[t is a rigidstructurelpivoted to the truck frame with freedom for' vertical pivotalmovements, but rigid against lateral and forward and rearward movements.l As shown, this coupling bar 13 is provided at its ends with trunnionsrigidly secured to the rearl ends of theside bars of the frame l. At itscentral portion, the coupling bar 13 has a rearwardly projectingcoupling shank 1.5 that is adapted to it in the bifurcated head 11 ofthe front wheel bracket 6 of the rear truck, with freedom, however, forhorizontal pivotal movements. This shank 15 has a perforation throughwhich the coupling pin 12 is adapted to be passed.' Here it should benoted that when two trucks are coupled together, as shown in Figs. 1 and2, the axis of the front wheel 4 of the rear truck and its brackets 6 ismidway between the axes of the large wheels of the-two connected trucks.This is important a because in turning a curve, the said front wheel 4will be kept at the same, or approximately the same angle, to the frontand to the rear large wheels. As is evident, this is .an action requiredto make the large wheels of the rear truck travel over the same, or

approximately the same tracks that were iottraveled 4by the `rear wheelsof the front/ The pivotal-connection between the cou` pling bar 13 andthe couplinghead of the draw bar llis, of course, necessary to enable jthe front wheelll to assume the different angular positions, aboveindicated, indzraveling curves. The pivotal `connection between thecouplingbar '13 and the truck frame isl required to permit the wheels ofthe several `trucks to adapt lthemselvesto irregularities in the ground,platform or other road bed. KSome such movement could be allowed lfor byplay between the shank 15 and coupliig head, but the said pivotalconnection j between the frame 1 and the bar 13 would `be required toprovidefor much road bed irregularity. The rigid coupling bar, as isevident, not only causes the wheels of the 's connected trucks toproperly track, but positively holds the rear truck from running aheadin respect to a front truck, in running down hill. Obviously, with aflexible connection, in running downhill, when one truckruns ont'o theother, the front wheel of that truck would be swung out of trackl `ingposition and would cause the rear truck to run, either to one side'orthe other ofv .the desired line of travel.

In a long train of trucks coupled'as above described, the trucks willclosely track each j other and will make very abrupt turns such 'asrequired in turning short corners. Selftracking trucks of this characterare capable of general use wherever it is desired that a series ofconnected trucks should travell substantially the same tracks withoutthe use of rails. They are very serviceable for handling lumber, dirt,freightv or merchandise generally, and may be even found serviceable forpassenger service in connection with automobiles. By the use of anautomobile or tractor, a very long train of these trucks may be drawnwhere a close tracking or trailing action is required. v In thespecification and in the claims, it is stated that v ythe front whe/elbracket is pivoted to the front end of the truck frame but itI will be,of course, understood that this expression is a relative term used forconvenience central portion, having aI projecting portion adapted to bepivotally connected to the head of the draw bar of the front wheelbracket of a rear truck.

2. In a truck, the combination ywith a frame and rear wheels journaledthereto, of'

a wheel-equipped front wheel bracket centrally pivoted to the front endportion of saidframe and provided with a forwardly projecting integraldraw bar terminating in a horizontally bifurcated coupling head, and adraw bar extended transversely across the krear portion of said truckframe and pivoted thereto for vertical oscillatory movement, andprovided with a rearwardly projecting centrally located coupling shankadapted to be pivotally connected to the bifurcated head of the draw barof a rear 3. In a truck, the combination with a frame and rear wheelsjournaled thereto,

of a truck wheel bracket centrally pivoted to the front portion of saidframe and having laterally spaced depending flanges, and

a front wheel located between and ournaled to said flanges, the saidwheel bracket having a forwardly projecting integral coupling head.

\ In testimony whereof I allix my signature in presence ofwtwowitnesses.

. iADoLrH w. BnNsoN.

Witnesses: j u HARRY'D. KILGORE,

F. D. MERCHANT.

